Many of you already know Tober the library cat. He’s been blogging since 2008, despite his daily duties associated with keeping the library running smoothly and his Staff in line. We’re grateful he blocked out some time for us because as we all know, humans are notoriously hard to train and even harder to keep motivated, so he doesn’t have much spare time.

Perhaps we should dive in before Tober has to herd Staff or attend a ribbon slashing.

Funny Farmer Felines: Would you introduce yourself and your Staff to everyone, Tober?

Tober: Hi! I’m Tober, resident cat and Boss of Thorntown Public Library in Thorntown, Indiana. I have been a Library Cat since November 2008, when my Assistant Boss Mommy Karen decided I would make a great library employee. Due to my Awesomeness, I was soon promoted to Boss of the whole library!

Funny Farmer Felines: How did you come to have Staff to train to wait on you? And how did you get the name Tober?

Tober: My Staff have been really hard to train. I have had to be very patient with them, and I have to repeat myself a LOT. The lady Staff people are much easier to train than the men. AAB Becki makes my breakfast and dinner every day and scoops my, um, deposits—she’s been my greatest success! AAB Ritchie has been an absolute failure. He does a decent enough job of cleaning up my urps, but he’s always scheming to get rid of me. I’d fire him, but I know he would just keep coming back.

My name, Tober, is short for OCTober. AB Karen found me in October and tried keeping me as a house-cat, but I wasn’t a huge fan of her two annoying weiner-dogs. I told her I’d rather live in the Library, and she agreed.

Funny Farmer Felines: Our human is probably the only human who is not big on nicknames, so we’re sure you have some. What nicknames does your Staff have for you?

Tober: My favorite color is Red. I have a nice Red blankie that looks very nice with my furs. I like Blue, too, because that’s the color of the library carpeting, which also looks very nice with my furs.

My favorite CAT treats are Temptations, especially the Mix-Ups. (I like variety!) My favorite probably-not-for-cats treats are Orbit Sweet Mint gum wrappers. They are paper, so I only get one per week.

I don’t play with toys. I use Feline Training Devices (FTDs) to maximize my agility, strength, and stealth. As a Library Cat, I’m often called upon to hunt and slay intruding critters, like wasps and flies and spiders. My Very Most Favorite FTD is a stuffed Forever Pepper that was crafted by a kind fan. She filled it with primo ‘nip, and it’s very nice to bite and claw at. I also like attacking silk flowers, bows, and any produce that might be lying around.

My favorite day of the week is Monday. That’s when I get to eat an Orbit Sweet Mint gum wrapper! (I wrote a letter to the gum-makers complimenting their packaging, but I haven’t heard back yet.)

Funny Farmer Felines: You have a lot of snoopervising to do and a lot of visitors to greet, but every kitty likes to get into mischief.. What kind of mischief do you get into?

Tober: None. Oh. Ohhhh—You mean from the human perspective? Oh, okay.

I love, love, love to eat Ethernet cables! They are the tastiest thing ever, and they feel really nice on my teeth. Just when my cable-wrappers think they’ve wrapped them all, I find another innocent victim! I love to eat sticker paper and posty-notes and stamps and ribbon, which seems to be regarded as “Bad”—especially the stamps. I also broke a candy dish this one time, but my staff put it in a stupid place, so that wasn’t really my fault at all. And I always make sure to urp in at least two places so that Ritchie has more excitement during his mornings.

Funny Farmer Felines: Do you belong to any clubs or groups? And does your Staff help you participate in any of the blogging events, such as Talk like a pirate day, LiveStrong, Box Day, etc?

Tober: One year I participated in Box Day, but I’m not really a box cat. Although I like seeing everyone’s blogs when they participate in things like Talk Like a Pirate Day, I usually miss out, mainly due to a poorly-trained blogging assistant. One Holiday that I celebrate each year is Hoodie Hoo Day. It’s some weird human tradition for the entire library staff and all visitors to run outside on February 20 and chase away winter. I, of course, stay inside where it is warm and compose a blog post making fun of them–but Hoodie Hoo Day has successfully banished winter each year!

Funny Farmer Felines: You and your Staff had a pretty big scare one day when someone who didn’t know you put you out of the library. Want to tell us about that or are you still traumatized?

Tober: Oh, guys, that was the most Horriblefying thing that has ever happened to me. *shudder*

These men and women were using our Library meeting rooms. They were being trained as Census-takers. (I think you have to be really good at counting to be a Census-taker.) One of them saw me in the library and thought I didn’t belong. So he put me OUTSIDE! I came right back in, of course, but he put me out AGAIN! And closed the door! So I was stuck out in the wild TWO (2) whole hours. AAB Becki made all the Census trainees stop learning so that they could search the Outside, and she found me hanging out near a plant by the door.

That is the only time I have ever been OUTSIDE without a person. Now we have signs on all of the doors saying I am a Library Inside-Only Not To Be Taken From This Building Cat.

Funny Farmer Felines: You are quite famous already. You’ve even been mentioned in Cat Fancy Magazine. Could you sign a pawtograph for us while you tell us about that?

Tober: Oh, sure! *signing* One of my AAB’s has a subscription to Cat Fancy Magazine, and when she got her February 2010 issue she saw an article about 45 Amazing Literary Felines listed on the cover. Naturally, I was included, though a bit further down on the list than I expected. I kind of take these things in stride, but my staff sure got all twitterpated about it!

There’s my pawtograph. It should get you a LOT treat-money on eBay.

Funny Farmer Felines: Last year an Evil Imposter Cat tried to take over your post and got his picture on your blog. Did he lock you in a desk drawer to take over the library?

Tober: He did worse than that! In the space of 5 minutes, Not-Tober managed to win the hearts of my (fickle, traitorous) Staff, who locked me OUT of my office so that he could relax! He even did a #1 in my box! Then they thought we should meet, which really freaked me out. It was like seeing a younger, dumber, smellier mirror-image of myself! Thankfully someone stopped by and retrieved the little villain by the end of the day.

Funny Farmer Felines: Do you have any special plans for the future of your blog?

Tober: My big plan is to carry on! Last year I tried a New Year’s Resolution to blog each and every week, but my AAB’s not been too reliable lately. So we’re going to try to KEEP my Resolution in 2013! *paws crossed*

Funny Farmer Felines: What do you like and dislike about blogging?

Tober: I like all of the interesting animals and people I get to meet from the Blogosphere. I’ve made lots of good friends over the last few years, and they’re always so encouraging when I’m having trouble managing my staff. I also like reading about everyone’s adventures–I get to learn about things like beds and napping with people and Outside and other things I don’t get to do. As a Library Cat, it’s also super-cool when a blog fan travels to my Library to meet me (especially when they bring treats).

I only have a few dislikes. One is that I never feel caught up reading about everyone! I don’t get around to commenting much, either, so that’s a bummer. My least favorite thing is when a blogging friend goes to the Bridge. It makes me awfully sad, even though I know the Bridge is really a happy place

Funny Farmer Felines: What advice would you give to anyone just starting a blog?

Tober: Be patient, don’t get discouraged, and go out in search of friends! (You can start with Jan’s Funny Farm–they are excellent blogging friends!)

Funny Farmer Felines: Thank you for sitting down to talk with us, Tober. We’re sure your old and new fans will be happy to learn more about you. And thanks for the unexpected Funny Farmer plug. **Percy slips a few green papers across the table and under Tober’s paw.**

Be sure to drop by and let Tober’s Staff know you’ll be keeping an eye on the blog to be sure Staff keeps her 2013 resolution cause we all want more Tober. Tober can be found snooperviing his Staff at The Adventures of Tober the Thorntown Library Cat.

We are so pleased to meet you Tober and must say how busy you must be organising the library staff and all the people who come and go during the day with their books. What a great responsibility and we hope you are paid well for your efforts.
BTW there was a library cat in our village at one time but sadly she was called to Rainbow Bridge.
Luv Hannah and Lucy xx xx

Pawsome interview !
I haven´t met Tober before , I guess it´s my mom-persons fault that I have missed his bloggie.
Must be great to be a boss over a whole library and pawsome to have millions of bookshelfs to climb on

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